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As Ghanaians are getting ready for presidential and parliamentary elections that will be held on 7 December 2012, BloggingGhana community has lauched a social media initiative that seeks to train stakeholders to use social media tools for election monitoring and reporting.

The Ghana Decides-A BloGh Election 2012 Project been launched today at Windy Lodge, Winneba. Ghana Decides is a BloggingGhana initiative meant to introduce NGOs, Civil Society Organisations, students (especially first time voters), political groups and the general Ghanaian public to the importance and benefit of use of social media tools in elections in Ghana. The projects seeks to engage these bodies and individuals, train them to use these tools as well as provide a reliable platform for elections monitoring in the country.

As most innovative projects such as Ghana Decides are typically based in the nation's capital, the project team thought it best to launch outside of Accra. The launch which was under the theme Encouraging Informed Youth Participation in the 2012 Elections saw participants from Senior High Schools within Winneba, the local union for the physically challenged in Winneba as well as other physically challenged people, students from University of Education, Winneba, NGOs such as Plan Ghana and the general public.

The launch marks the official outdooring of a series of Ghana Decides online and offline activities including the iRegistered campaign meant to propel young voters to go out in numbers, register and take videos or pictures of themselves doing so or after registering. Currently, the hashtag #iRegistered is trending on Twitter.

Among Ghana Decides’ activities, is the ‘#iRegistered’ campaign to get Ghanaians to register as the Electoral Commission (EC) has begun the biometric voter registration.

#iRegistered in 4 simple steps;

1. Ghana Decides has provided information on the biometric registration its website (http://ghanadecides.com). The Government of Ghana website (http://ghana.gov.gh) also has an information leaflet for the biometric registration exercise. Every Ghanaian is being urged to read, be informed and share this information with family, friends and people in their communities.

2. Tweet or post a Facebook or Google+ update telling your friends and the world about the registration exercise and the need to register with the hashtags #iRegistered and #GhanaDecides.

The main competition in the December 2012 elections will involve the two main Ghana's political parties, the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the main opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP).

I think it’s really good that elections related things, something important for the country, are going on social media. It’s probably the best way to reach younger people, and those who aren’t yet allowed to vote.

It’s also probably a great way for the political parties to gain some extra voters, I’ve seen similar things in my country where members answer to tweets and questions.